FM OP800

FM OP800

A Fairbanks-Morse Model OP800 railcar, former Georgia Northern Railway #2.
Type and origin
Power type Diesel-electric
Builder St. Louis Car Company
Model OP800
Build date 1939
Total produced 6
Specifications
AAR wheel arr. 2-A1A (as built)
later 3-A1A
Gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm)
Length 80 feet (24 m)
Prime mover Fairbanks-Morse Opposed-piston
Engine type 2-stroke diesel
Aspiration Roots Blower
Cylinders 5, Opposed piston
Cylinder size 8 in × 10 in
(203 mm × 254 mm)
Transmission Westinghouse DC generator,
DC traction motors
Performance figures
Maximum speed 80 miles per hour (130 km/h)
Power output 800 hp (597 kW)
Locomotive brake Straight air
Train brakes 6-ET Air
Career
Operator(s) Southern Railway,
Georgia and Florida Railroad,
Georgia Northern Railway
Locale North America
Disposition All scrapped

The OP800 was a lightweight, streamlined railcar built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1939. Fairbanks-Morse supplied the 800 hp, five-cylinder 8 x 10 opposed piston engine prime mover. The units were configured in a highly-unusual 2-A1A wheel arrangement (later converted to 3-A1A)[1] mounted atop a pair of road trucks, and equipped with a front swing coupler pilot. The aft section was divided into two separate compartments: one was used to transport baggage and the other served as a small railway post office, or RPO (the forward door, located just behind the radiator louvers, was equipped with a mail hook).

Six units, accompanied by matching trailing car sets, were manufactured exclusively for the Southern Railway (SR). Two were later sold to the Georgia and Florida Railroad and Georgia Northern Railway as maintenance cars. The remaining four OP800s were scrapped in 1955; selected parts were retained for maintenance use on other SR F-M motive power.

At least four of these cars had individual names applied to them, including "Vulcan", "Cracker", "Joe Wheeler", and "Goldenrod".[2]

No OP800 units are known to have survived.

See also

References

  1. Southern Ry equipment diagram
  2. http://southern-railway.railfan.net/sry/eunits/eunits.html